


The Rubber Band

by JustTrash_Fan



Series: The Rubber Band [1]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 21:55:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15872490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustTrash_Fan/pseuds/JustTrash_Fan
Summary: Grantaire's been acting strange lately, from leaving meetings early under the excuse of "Night Classes" to practically running away from Enjolras, the Les Amis know something is wrong, and it probably has to due with that stupid rubber band on his wrist.





	The Rubber Band

Grantaire sat watching Enjolras move around the room gracefully as he delivered his speech. As he took another sip of his beer he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he would ever have a chance with the god at the front of the room.  
Grantaire shook his head and snapped the rubber band on his wrist. He had started to work on self-depreciation with his therapist recently. One of the suggestions that his therapist had given was for R to start trying to let go of and ignore things that make him put himself down. Unfortunately this included his unrequited love for the beautiful, blond god. However this ended up being a lot harder then Grantaire had originally thought, this led to the idea of the rubber band.  
Suddenly there was a loud noise in front of Grantaire. R looked up quickly to see that Enjolras had slammed his hand down on R;s table and was now staring at him with those hard gorgeous eyes. Grantaire snapped the rubber band.  
Enjolras’ eyes shot down to R;s wrist before they slowly came back to look him in the eyes. “Grantaire,” he started calmly, “have you been listening to anything that I was saying?” The soft voice that Enjolras used when speaking to him shocked Grantaire and caused him to reach down and snap the rubber band again.  
Grantaire rubbed the back of his neck, “Uhh ha ha,” he paused for a moment nervously, “well no.” Eponine snickered from behind him and Grantaire could feel his ears heat up in embarrassment.  
Enjolras sighed and rubbed his face, he stood up and crossed his arms, “I was just asking if you had those posters I asked you to make?”  
Grantaire nodded rapidly and dug into his large bag. He carefully pulled out his portfolio. He fingered through them before pulling out four separate posters. He laid them all out side by side on the table before leaning back and letting everyone examine them.  
The group all let out praises as they looked at R’s work. He puffed out in pride but waited with baited breath for their beautiful, gorgeous, fearless, perfect, smart, incredible, kind, talented leader to respond. Grantaire snapped the rubber band again.  
Finally after what seemed like a century to Grantaire, Enjolras addressed him, “These are amazing. Good job.” Enjolras gave Grantaire one of his heart stopping charming smiles causing him to pop the band on his wrist three times quickly. Once again the blonde man's eyes went to R’s wrist curiously.  
Grantaire grinned proudly before carefully putting each of his works in a pile for combeferre and Courfeyrac to make copies of later. Grantaire looked down as his phones alarm went off. He gathered up his things before looking at the group, “Sorry guys I have a night class.”  
Eponine furrowed her brows in confusion, “No you don’t, you don't have any classes after three.” Everyone in the room turned to look at Grantaire.  
Grantaire froze for a moment before stuttering out, “I just had it added, but I really have to go.” He pointed at the door that led downstairs. “Bye everyone I’ll see you tomorrow.” Grantaire was gone as quick as he had come.  
“Did he seem weird today to anyone else?” Eponine asked cuddling with Marius and Cosette.  
Enjolras nodded, “He kept snapping that rubber band on his wrist.” Everyone all nodded, they knew something was wrong with Grantaire. 

 

Grantaire rushed back to his apartment and hurriedly tries to prepare himself for the date that he was forcing himself to go on.  
He peeled off his ratty green jacket, grey shirt, and skinny jeans with actual holes in them (not premade like some disgusting store bought stuff), and put on a nice grey v-neck and a pair of black jeans (with no holes).  
Grantaire ran a brush through his wild hair trying to make it at least somewhat presentable, finally he huffed in frustration and decided to just throw his hair up in a messy tight bun. He looked at himself in the mirror and took a deep breath. “I can do this,” Grantaire thought to himself. He nodded at his reflection before slinging on his leather jacket and shoes.  
Grantaire locked his door before walking towards the deli place that he and his date were supposed to meet at.  
As he got closer to their meeting place, Grantaire could feel his nerves coming back at full force. What if this guy laughed at him? Why was he even doing this again? Grantaire took a deep breath and snapped the rubber band on his wrist. None of that. Not tonight.  
Finally Grantaire made it to the little Deli place that he was supposed to have his date at. Sure enough sitting on a bench in front of the small space was his date.  
The man looked up and smiled at R, he stood and walked over to him, “Hey Grantaire, I’m so glad your here, I was starting to think you were going to stand me up!”  
R laughed a bit with the man, “I would never dream of it! Should we go in?” He asked noticing that it was getting colder outside and the man was only wearing a light sweater.  
Jacques. Grantaire's date was called Jacques. Though he insisted everyone called him Jacq. Jacq and Grantaire had their Culture 1 class together. Jacq had been asking him out for a good two months. Before his last session with his therapist, Grantaire would have continued to turn him down, however now was a time for R to spread his wings and meet someone.  
The two went into the little Deli shop. They ordered before heading over to a small booth in the corner of the open space. The conversation flowed easily between them, however Grantaire had noticed that their conversation was entirely about their classes. Finally Grantaire tried to steer the conversation in a different direction. He realized that this might of been a mistake however when Jacq went into a full blown rant about protestors and how they were a nuisance. Grantaire couldn’t help but glare lightly at him for the rest of their date.

 

Grantaire was running late. Jacq was blowing up his phone, no matter how cute he thought the guy was he could not deal with this.  
Grantaire texted the guy to politely tell him to fuck off, this was when he realized that he only had fifteen minutes until the Les Amis meeting started. He wasn’t even dressed. Well he was but his current clothes were covered in paint. Not that this mattered as he immediately jumped up and ran out the door without thinking.  
He ran into the cafe ten minutes late and completely out of breath Of course E giving him that look wasn’t helping his breathing. “Grantaire is everything okay? You’re not usually this late,” Enjolras stated crossing his arms.  
Grantaire cursed and thanked Courfeyrac mentally for giving Enjolras the red leather jacket that was currently making it hard for R to look at Grantair without blushing red. Grantaire reached down to snap the rubber band only to realize that he didn’t have any with him.  
Enjolras stepped closer to Grantaire in concern. He took another stp and Grantaire stumbled back and into a table. He just managed to stop himself from falling. He was breathing rapidly when he reached the door, “I have to…” He mumbled something before spouting out, “yeah by.” Grantaire stumbled out the door as everyone watched on, shocked.  
“Now I know something is up, “ Eponine said laying against Cosette.  
Courfeyrac agreed, “It’s not like R to react like that when E gets close to him,” there were murmurs around the room in agreement, “he usually swoons.”  
“And drools,” a voice added.  
“Enj did you say something to R?” Eponine accused causing enjolras to turn to her offended.  
“No! You all know i’ve been a lot better with him after I...realized I…” Enjolras trailed off, his entire face going red.  
“After you realised that you love him?” Jehan supplied airily as they braided their hair.  
Combeferre spoke up, “I don’t think enjolras saying something wrong is the cause of Grantaire’s distress.”  
Enjolras squinted at Combeferre, “That implies that you still think I’m the reason he’s acting so weird.”  
Combeferre nodded, “Every Time you get close to him he snaps that rubberband on his wrist. He rarely ever does it when he isn’t looking at you.”  
Enjolras nodded, “Okay but I don’t know anything about that stupid rubberband.”  
“He wasn’t wearing one today,” Bahoral pointed out.  
“Do you think the rubberband thing could have anything to do with his therapy?” Musichetta asked tilting her head. The entire group looked at eponine. If anyone knew about Grantaires therapy sessions, it would be her.  
Eponine shrugged. “Last I heard was that they were working on his self-depreciation.”  
Cosette made a humming noise, “Well that explains it.” Everyone looked at Cosette confused, “What?” she asked upon seeing all of their stares.  
Courfeyrac sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “How does Grantaire's self-depreciation explain the way he has been acting and that stupid rubber band he keeps snapping.” Everyone nodded as cosette looked around at them like they were idiots.  
She sighed and shook he head at them. “Think about it. Every time Grantaire has said something even remotely negative about himself he has snapped that rubberband.” Combeferre, Musichetta, and Jehan made a noise of understanding.  
“It all makes sense now,” Jehan said placing a flower into their braided hair.  
Marius shook his head, “I still don’t understand what that has to do with Enj.”  
Combeferre sighed, “Think about it, when is R always putting himself down?”  
Feuilly gasped, “When talking about E.” Everyone in the room, other then Enjolras, started to make sounds of understanding.  
“It all makes sense,” someone muttered out.  
“Wait, wait!” Enj yelled.  
Courfeyrac rolled his eyes, “Come on Enj it is so obvious! R snaps that Rubberband to stop himself from thinking bad about himself. And his love for you causes him to think bad about himself.” Everyone nodded and shouted words of agreement before Enjolras silenced them with a look. They could all tell that he was not happy.  
The room was completely silent for a few moments, “I get why R is doing it.” E said finally.  
“Then what's the problem?” Eponine asked him.  
Enjolras looks down, “I didn’t know any of this. I didn’t know that R loved me. Or that he was putting himself down because of his love for me.” Everyone then remembers that the only person in the room that R has not ranted about enjolras to, was Enjolras himself.  
“Its cause he doesn’t think he is good enough for you. As he once said; He is a god and I am a mortal not worthy enough to even be in his presence.” Jehan spoke quietly. When they were done speaking it was as though a pane of glass had shattered.  
Enj grabbed his bag and sprinted out the door with only the thought of finding Grantaire in his mind.

 

Grantaire rushed home, not even stopping when he passed Jacq, his date from the night before. He stopped in front of his door and his hand shook violently as he tried to unlock his door. After maybe two minutes he was finally able to push his door open and stumble inside.  
Grantaire collapsed onto his couch and buried his face in his hands and tried not to let the tears that were rapidly forming fall. He took a few deep breaths before jumping as there were rapid knocks on his door.  
Grantaire wiped his eyes with the heel of his hand then stood and walked to the door. “Who is it?” He called out with his hand on the doorknob.  
“R please open the door,” Enjolras’ voice rang out.  
Grantaire was frozen, he didn’t know what to do or say. He flinched a little as there was another knock on the door and a soft voice calling “R?” Grantaire fumbled with the door before pulling it open and looking at the blond man standing in front of him.  
Enjolras took in a deep breath before looking at Grantaire, “We need to talk.”

**Author's Note:**

> Next Time:  
> Enjolras and Grantaire Talk  
> E and R go on a date  
> Eponine is an amazing friend  
> Enjolras gets jealous easily  
> Grantaire gets kissed three times  
> Courfeyrac unleashes his scary side  
> Grantaire and Courfeyrac “decide” to wear matching shirts  
> Red paints  
> Grantaire’s Guinea Pigs make an appearance.


End file.
